It Started With a Whisper, and Ended in Darkness
by dest-unknown
Summary: Tom Riddle, Jr./Hermione pairings and Voldemort/Hermione pairings. Drabbles. Prompts are welcomed


She ran down the dark hallway, her path illuminated by only the occasional flickering torch. Above her, she could hear feet marching back and forth on the many numerous levels of the manor. in the basement though, there was no sound except for a steady drip of water and the slap of her bare feet against the cold stone floor.

Turning a corner, she screeched quickly to a halt. at the end of the corridor a guard was sitting, his head tipped forward lazily. The girl didn't recognize him but it was glaringly apparent that he was helping keep her trapped inside this hellhole-therefore, he was an enemy. Luckily, he hadn't seen the girl yet. She crept up to him, silent and cat-like, and giving herself not a moment's hesitation, her hands reached out and she grasped his neck. With a firm jerk, the girl assured that this man would never open his eyes again.

The girl, who had pushed the body aware from her in disgust, reached the door. Her heartbeat sped up as she fumbled for the hair pin she had hidden away in her hair. It was pure luck that she had found a spare pin in a dark corner of Narcissa Malfoy's- former- room. The girl smirked. It wasn't as if Narcissa needed the pin anymore- Lord Voldemort had most definitely not shown the woman any mercy when he found out that Harry Potter had escaped once again from his clutches.

Cursing under her breath, the girl tried jimmying the lock again. A high-pitched, cold voice froze her attempts.

"Leaving so soon, dear? I thought you were beginning to enjoy your stay here at Malfoy Manor."

Hermione slowly turned around, cautious in her movements. She was aware that at any moment, the wand he held pressed against her neck could issue a brilliant green light that would inevitably send her to her death. When she had completed her 180 turn, Hermione found herself staring into the bright, shining scarlet eyes of Lord Voldemort. He stared back gleefully.

"You didn't actually think that breaking out of the manor would be so easy, did you?" he scoffed condescendingly. "I admit, I was surprised when you so ruthlessly killed the guard. I didn't think you had it in you." With a twitch of his leg, his foot kicked out at the man Hermione had killed, rolling him over onto his back. Hermione gasped. No, it couldn't be.

She didn't realize she had spoken aloud until Voldemort answered her.

"Oh yes. Your precious ginger here was captured a couple days ago. Unfortunately, his loyalty to Potter prevented him from spilling any useful information to us. I believe he would have done well in Hufflepuff.

"What did you...do to him...?" Hermione whispered. "Ron...Ron, please wake up. No, you're not dead. Ron, please, this isn't funny!" With each sentence, Hermione's hysteria rose until she was shrieking.

"It was all quite easy," Lord Voldemort sneered. "We tortured him, and then slipped him the Draught of Living Death while he was sleeping. Then, it was just the simple task of transforming his body and placed it here, at the only know entrance outside Malfoy Manor. I thought it was a fitting touch to have one member of the Golden Trio kill another off. Very ironic."

Hermione was not in her right mind anymore. She saw red spots dance through her vision and the next thing she knew, her hand had come up and slapped his face as hard as it could. Lord Voldemort stood there for a split second with a red mark in the shape of a hand blooming on his cheek. The sight would have been comical, except for the fact that in the next second, Voldemort's hand was on her neck, squeezing out her life.

She gasped and spluttered against his grip while he merely stared coldly into her eyes.

"This immature act just further proves the fact that Muggles and their actions are incompetent. This is how a real wizard fights." With those words, a stream of red light shot from Voldemort's wand. In the second before it hit Hermione, she saw the concentration in his eyes as he non-verbally used the spell, and the rage that she, a mere teenage Mudblood, had hit him. The on expression he was kissing, she noted, was hatred. Before she could ponder in this, the spell hit her hard and her world exploded in pain.

She screamed- Oh, Merlin, it hurt!- as he laughed with not a hint of remorse. She was going crazy...Merlin, this is what it felt like to go insane. She closed her eyes, willing this torture to end- and to her surprise, it did.

Slowly, Hermione cracked open her eyelids and stared in confusion at Voldemort. She realized that she was still on the floor, and hurried to her feet, swaying unsteadily. She was obviously fighting a losing battle against her muscles, but Hermione was determined not to go down without a fight. She glared at the monster in front of her. He shocked her by laughing.

"Well done. You put up more of a fight this time. I'm impressed." With that, Lord Voldemort scooped her up, bridal-style. "Let's get you cleaned up. I would venture a guess that you are already forming a new escape plan. I would like you at the peak of your strength when you do- it makes for a very interesting fight."

With that, Hermione closed her eyes, and her mind wandered to a place of happiness, a place of innocence and youth. As she slept, her lips curled up in a smile. She did not wake as Lord Voldemort placed her back in Narcissa Malfoy's bedroom, or when he placed a gentle kiss on her lips.


End file.
